If you’re into your cars, it can be tempting to want to personalise your ride or to modify your car in some way, either to make it drive better or just to reflect the personality of its driver a little more.
Although the vast majority of drivers will never go full ‘Pimp My Ride’ with spinning rims, built-in hot tubs and hydraulics, it’s still important to bear in mind that even what seem like relatively innocuous changes can have a big impact on your insurance.
Sure, it’s might put a bit of a damper on your plans to soup up your car with a bored-out motor and a ram air intake, but believe us when we tell you that your rocketing insurance costs will only kill the mood even more.
First of all it’s important to know exactly how modifications can change the price of your premium. Insurance costs are based upon risk, and at its most basic the more likely you are to make an insurance claim, whether it be for an accident, theft or other incident, the pricier your premium will be.
Modifications to your car can have a serious effect on how likely your car is to be involved in an accident, for example as a result of performance modifications, or can also increase the likelihood that it’ll get nicked by thieves.
New research released by MoneySuperMarket has revealed just how drastically some changes can affect your car, so read on to see seven of the most expensive modifications you can make. Some of them will definitely surprise you.
Supercharging your engine
The fact that sticking a turbocharger, supercharger or a nitrous oxide kit on your car to boost its performance will result in higher premiums will most likely not come as a shock to anybody who has even a passing knowledge of cars.
By boosting the ability of the engine to make power, via either forced induction or chemical means, your car will naturally be faster. Higher speeds, coupled with the fact that the sort of driver who wants a roided-out street weapon will statistically be more likely to be involved in an accident means that pricier premiums are inevitable.
What mightn’t be so obvious is by just how much your insurance costs can rise. According to MoneySuperMarket’s data, boosting your engine power can cause your insurance costs to shoot up by as much as 132 per cent. That means if your premium was, for example, £700 a year, with a supercharger or NOS kit, your insurance could cost as much as £1,624!
Adding a bodykit
Bodywork like flared-out wheel arches, skirts and bonnet scoops can range from the righteous to the all-out ridiculous, but unfortunately that Rocket Bunny kit could also send your insurance costs rocketing.
Data shows that widebody kits with larger wheel arches, flared wings and bonnet power bulges are the most costly, accounting for an average 66 per cent increase in insurance costs. Adding a spoiler can pump up your premiums by nearly a quarter, while tinting the windows is responsible for an average cost increase of 16 per cent alone.
Even upgrading your lights can result in higher premiums, with MoneySuperMarket’s research showing that new lights can account for a 12 per cent increase in insurance prices.
Sporting up the interior
Bucket seats, a smaller sports steering wheel and grippier pedals, all three essentials high on the light of any performance car fan who wants a more authentic racing-style interior and better control of the car on the road.
Unfortunately any of the above will also see said driver pay as much as 27 per cent more for their insurance than they otherwise would have. Fitting a roll cage or stripping the rear seats to save weight is even worse, with premiums rising by an average of 41 per cent.
You don’t even have to be a racer, per se. Just changing the upholstery or the look of your dashboard can cause your premiums to jump up by around 16 per cent.
Brake upgrades
Surely upgrading the brakes should cause your insurance costs to come down, seeing as you’d be able to stop more quickly and more effectively in the event of an incident, right? Not in the eyes of insurers, unfortunately.
Uprating your braking system can see insurance premiums rise by a pretty significant 36 per cent, likely because powerful brakes would suggest that the driver intends to use them to the limits of their ability.
Suspension changes, which can include everything from stancing or lowering the car to swapping the dampers and coilovers for a tauter, more dynamic ride can cause your premiums to rise by 25 per cent.
Changing the paint colour
It doesn’t even have to be a performance modification that causes your insurance costs to rise, as even something as seemingly harmless as giving your car a fresh lick of paint can see premiums rise by as much as 36 per cent.
It’s worth bearing in mind that taking your beaten old Corolla to get a respray in its original colour probably won’t harm your premiums, while changing a yellow Beetle to a brown Beetle likewise won’t. Do inform your insurer before you recolour the car, however, or it’s liable to void your policy.
Specialised paintjobs, including hot rod flames and racing stripes, can be a different story and can see your costs increase if it gives your insurer reason to believe the car might be driven in anything less than a responsible manner.
Adding driver aids
Even some additional add-ons that you might think would be beneficial to your insurance costs can actually end up putting you more out of pocket. For example, adding a sat-nav is seen as more attractive to thieves and as a result can raise premiums by as much as 15 per cent.
Anybody with a built-in car phone isn’t any better off, as MoneySuperMarket’s research shows that this can cause increases of up to 26 per cent in the cost of your insurance premium.
However, it’s not all bad. Some driving aids, like autonomous emergency braking, has been shown to cause certain cars to drop as many as five insurance categories, while specifying your car with parking sensors can reduce your premium by up to 13 per cent.
Making your car wheelchair-friendly
Perhaps most shockingly of all will be the news that anybody who has to retrofit their car with features to accommodate a wheelchair could end up having to pay much more for their insurance than the average driver.
Fitting a vehicle with straps, a ramp or a lift for a wheelchair can see premiums rise by up to 69 per cent, meaning that it’s more costly to fit a wheelchair strap than a roll cage or a bodykit.
Likewise, drivers who require hand controls to operate their cars rather than the standard pedal system will see their premiums pushed up by an average of 57 per cent, meaning that a £700 premium would rise to £1,099 with hand controls fitted.
